Fashion Photography MA

Rochester

Course overview

Behind every successful fashion shoot is a talented photographer. With the skills you gain on our MA Fashion Photography degree course at UCA Rochester, you can make that role your own.

On our course, you’ll build on your existing fashion and photography knowledge to identify, develop and manage a Masters project.

We will provide you with the tools to help you reach your goals - from state-of-the-art photography facilities and off-campus shoots and exhibition visits to specialised lectures, seminars, tutorials and workshops.

Your studies will be supported by internationally renowned staff in a department that encourages experimentation. You'll establish yourself as a well-rounded professional who can formulate ideas in a sophisticated framework, while also communicating to others both visually and verbally.

We place a strong emphasis on publication, enabling you to find creative ways to disseminate your work beyond the academic context, in the public arena. With the skills and confidence you gain, you'll be equipped to succeed in a career of your choice - whether that's in editorial fashion, curation, editing, fine art or freelance work.

Please note: this course will be based at UCA Epsom from September 2023.

MA

A one-year course of advanced study for furthering your research skills and specialising within your discipline.

MA with Integrated Pre-Masters

A year-long preparatory course of study to ready you for your Master’s, developing your specialist skills, research acumen and confidence in working autonomously.

The Integrated Pre-Masters course has been suspended for 2022 entry.

MA with Integrated International Pre-Masters

A year-long preparatory course of study to ready you for your Master’s in the UK, developing your English speaking and writing together with your specialist skills, research acumen and confidence in working autonomously.

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Course details

The content of the course may be subject to change. Curriculum content is provided as a guide.

Integrated Pre-Masters (if undertaken)

Get ready for your chosen postgraduate course with this preparatory year of specialist study. With a mix of online and face-to-face learning, UCA’s Integrated Pre-Masters is designed to give you insight into the study skills required to complete a Master’s, within the context of your creative subject. You’ll build skills in autonomous learning, forming your own targets and goals, honing your research skills, time management and professional practice.

Integrated International Pre-Masters (if undertaken)

For our students coming from a non-UK educational background, UCA has launched an Integrated International Pre-Masters year.

On this course you’ll prepare for postgraduate study with a mix of online and face-to-face learning that will give you the study skills required to complete a Master’s, and you’ll also improve your English for academic study.

Term one

You'll be introduced to the University and the technical workshops and facilities available to you. The first term includes a range of lectures and seminars and you’ll start to explore your creative practice.

Contemporary Debates and Creative Enquiry
This unit introduces you to a range of research methods and tools appropriate to an advanced level of study in creative disciplines as well as outlining key issues and debates in contemporary visual and material culture. It is designed to enable the use of advanced study skills to prepare you for the development of your MA body of work within the context of fashion photography.

Innovating Practice
This unit is concerned with the exploration and innovation of creative practice in order to inform the critical, conceptual, visual and professional development of the body of work you'll produce during the MA. The unit provides a structured framework to encourage you to speculate, take risks and experiment with the potential of approaches, methods, ideas and themes in contemporary fashion photography and its commercial contexts for their own project.

Term two

During term two you begin developing your MA project, evaluating and testing out the aims of your proposal over a sustained period of self-directed study.

Project Development and Industry Placements
In this unit, you'll develop the core of your body of work for your MA over a sustained period of self-directed study as you begin to work more independently as a creative image maker. The development of the body of work will be guided and questioned by industry mentors and through tutorials, group critiques and presentations with staff, fellow students and professional practitioners.

Project Development
In this unit, you'll develop the core of your body of work for your MA over a sustained period of self-directed study, as you begin to work more independently as a creative image maker. The development of the body of work will be guided and questioned by industry mentors and through tutorials, group critiques and presentations with staff, fellow students and professional practitioners.

Term three

In the third term of the course, you'll apply the knowledge gained through your research to create a final body of work.

Creative Resolution and Implementation
In this unit, you'll continue to be guided by industry mentors and through tutorials, group critiques and presentations with staff, fellow students and professional practitioners. You'll apply and develop the knowledge gained through your research and practice in the Unit ‘Project Development and Industry Placements’ or ‘Project Development’ to resolve and disseminate your final body of work and start to develop and implement your career plan. In this final part of the MA you'll acquire the ability to refine, produce, complete and start to disseminate your body of work, which you'll firmly place within the context of the fashion industry. The final outcome, be it still and/or moving image, should reflect the ambition of your body of work and career aspirations in terms of scale and complexity, becoming a significant step towards moving into employment in the fashion photography industry.

Fees and additional costs

Tuition fees - 2022 entry

UK students:

Integrated Pre-Masters course - £10,500
MA course - £10,500

EU students:

Integrated International Pre-Masters course - £10,500 (see fee discount information)
MA course - £10,500 (see fee discount information)

International students:

Integrated International Pre-Masters course - £17,500
MA course - £17,500

Additional course costs
In addition to the tuition fees there may be other costs for your course. The things that you are likely to need to budget for to get the most out of a creative arts education will include books, printing costs, occasional or optional study trips and/or project materials. These costs will vary according to the nature of your project work and the individual choices that you make.

Further information
For more detailed information about our course fees and any financial support you may be entitled to please see our fees and finance pages.

The fees listed here are correct for the stated academic year only. Costs may increase each year during a student’s period of continued registration on course in line with inflation (subject to any maximum regulated tuition fee limit). Any adjustment for continuing students will be at or below the RPI-X forecast rate.

Fee discounts and scholarships

To support our students and alumni to progress to the next level of study, we have developed a new range of fee discounts across a range of courses.

Read more about fee discounts

Course specifications

Please note, syllabus content indicated is provided as a guide. The content of the course may be subject to change in line with our Student Terms and Conditions for example, as required by external professional bodies or to improve the quality of the course.

Al Sarcoli, MA Fashion Photography, UCA Rochester

Emilie Cutler, MA Fashion Photography, UCA Rochester_

Jia Rui Tian, MA Fashion Photography, UCA Rocheste

Suppaphol Prachumpon, MA Fashion Photography, UCA Rochester

Eric Li, MA Fashion Photography, UCA Rochester

Xinyi Liu, MA Fashion Photography, UCA Rochester

Yuning Ma, MA fashion Photography, UCA Rochester

Rachael Louise Harding, MA Fashion Photography, UCA Rochester

Facilities

Fashion Photography facilities include fully-equipped, spacious photographic studios - three large photographic studios and lighting; perfect for still-life, fashion, tableau and other constructed photography. Digital imaging centre including Flextight scanners, large format Epson printers with a print size from A4 to B0, a digital suite of Mac Pros and colour calibrated monitors and up-to-date software. Dedicated processing and printing darkrooms for both black and white and colour photography.

Photography studios, UCA Rochester

Photography Digital studios, UCA Rochester

Photography studios, UCA Rochester

Course connections

Industry links

Our MA Photography courses enjoy extensive links with a number of photographic, media and fine art professionals, curators, publishers, specialist printers and book designers. These connections enrich your experience through visiting lecturer and seminar programmes.

In the last three years, speakers on the course have included photographers and other creative practitioners such as:

Ori Gersht
Esther Teichmann
Margaret Salmon
Sarah Jones
Matthew Stone
Criodhna Costello
Chris Coekin
Carey Young
Lisa Castagner
Rod Dickinson
Jo Longhurst
Jason Evans
Joseph Walsh
Eva Bensasson.

Additionally, creative professionals and industry links for our course include:

Benedict Burbridge, editor of Photoworks
Stuart Smith, book designer at Smith-Design
Sarah James, writer at Art Monthly and Frieze
Lucy Soutter, writer at Source
Clare Grafik, curator of The Photographer's Gallery
Jennifer Thatcher, Folkestone Triennial
Jean Wainwright, writer at Art Newspaper
Terry King, specialist printer
Emily Pethick, directs The Showroom
Robert Shore, editor of Elephant Magazine
Edward Dorrian, organiser of Five Years
Joyce Cronin, manages the Cubitt Gallery.

Careers

Our postgraduate degree prepares you for your career through professional practice units, talks by visiting artists and portfolio reviews with figures from across the photographic industry. Career opportunities include:

Freelance photography
Fine art
Fashion
Advertising and editorial
Post production/digital imaging
Picture editing and research
Curating
Image, arts and community arts management
Gallery administration.

Graduates of MA Photography have gone on to win the Jerwood Photography prize; to exhibit their work in The Photographers' Gallery, Photofusion, ArtSway and the Geffyre Museum as well as publishing their outputs in different venues ranging from The Sunday Times Magazine to monographs with Dewi Lewis Publishing.

Further study

We also encourage you to apply to national and international competitions and residencies. Recent graduates have met with success at the PhotoforumPasquArt in Switzerland and Emergent Lleida, Spain. Alumni have also gone on to study for PhDs and to teach in many different national and international institutions at a range of levels.

Our course provides an excellent platform for you to connect with your subject, or to further your teaching career at an advanced level. It also helps prepare you for progression to an MPhil or PhD.

Entry requirements

UK entry requirements

MA course

An honours degree or equivalent qualification in the subject or a related discipline

and/or

Relevant work experience, demonstrating your ability to study at postgraduate level.

Consideration will also be given to applicants who can make a strong case for admission in relation to a particular project and can demonstrate their potential to satisfactorily complete the course.

MA course with Integrated Pre-Masters course
MA course with Integrated International Pre-Masters course

A recognised bachelor degree or 3 year diploma with a strong portfolio in a relevant subject.

International and EU entry requirements

Don't meet the international entry requirements or English language requirements?

You may be able to enter the course through the following entry pathways:

Pre-sessional English courses

UCA International Foundation courses

The UCA International College

Portfolio requirements

MA course
MA course with Integrated Pre-Masters course
MA course with Integrated International Pre-Masters course

For these courses, we’ll need to see your visual or written portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to upload your portfolio online via your Applicant Portal – further information will be provided once you have applied. If you would prefer to meet the Academic Team in person for a review of your work on campus, this can also be arranged for you.

More portfolio advice